A wanderer's blog...“A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free. ” - Arthur Schopenhauer

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Tasmania, the hidden jewel of Australia 2011/08/01-15 day 4

Didn’t slept well at all for the 1st night, though i tried to zzzz early. We all woke up by 6-7am. Alex was always the 1st one to get up and make hot water for all of us, which i kinda slowly emulated. It’s a good habit after all. Had our hot drink and breakfast, we tried to get ourselves all ready by 8-9am.

My 1st impression of the hut was, IT’s really GOOD!!! love it!!! i reckoned this one can sleep about 20-30 people if squeeze!!! Luckily we had the hut to ourselves and the girl who we finally got to know, a pretty girl from Taiwan!!! Anyway, as you saw in the pics above, the hut was pretty clean, and we have our socks hanging on top of the heater to dry.

On the other hand, I guessed it’s very boring at night, either you are very tired, went to bed earlier, or you stay up to chat, mingle around, and some people became creative to write things on the board or paste them on the wooden wall, lol. There really not much you can do at night in the hut, that’s hiking, lol.

Went for an early walk around the hut, it’s freezing cold and misty. Doesn’t look good for weather. Busy snapping photos around the hut, haha. The huts along this track all have a wet weather entrance or a room for leaving your wet gears so that it doesn’t dirty or wet other communal areas which i reckon is very wise thing to do.

Guessed what? it’s 1.5degree outside!!!! And the barometer showed low pressure which Alex taught me what’s the meaning of it, which means low clouds and weather coming in!!!! And on the far right pic, that’s the long drop toilet, hehe.

Saw a roo on the way to pee, and apparently, the view from the loo was quite good. One can see the gas used for heating and a helipad nearby too.

Located not too far off from the waterfall valley hut is the old tiny waterfall valley hut which we visited, i reckoned it can only zzz 6-8 person if squeeze. All the huts here have a board giving details of the hut, e.g when was it built, what purpose…etc which is pretty interesting to read!!!

As the hut is NOT a hotel/mansion, and some people prefer to have their own space, there’s always the campsite which one can opt for. Though these campsites are always located a bit further away from the hut. One thing that caught my eyes was the metal plate nailed on to the wooden plank floor. After explanation only i realized they form the base for cooking, instead of cooking on top of wooden floor which might get burned and damaged due to the heat. In addition, there’s also the cork wire for you to put up your tent.

Above pics just show the surroundings of the old hut

A poem bout wet socks eh!!!! too bored i guessed or too disgusted by wet socks, lol. In the hut, you’ll see the sign on the upper right pic saying no open burning is allowed except the use of fuel stove!! It’s important to continue protect this fragile piece of land!!!

They even provide cleaning stuff in the hut, so you have no reasons to leave the hut in a mess for the next hikers. Alex again presented his good hiker altitude that he cleaned the area before leaving, again something i picked up from him, haha.

The hike continues!!!! it’s another 7.75km to the next hut, the shortest and easiest of all days, lol. Pretty much there’s no sun all the way and it rain at some parts, in fact there’s some flurry wet snow flakes while we were having our break at the fourth valley lookout as seen in the pic above!!! Apparently the previous hut we stayed in was called waterfall valley hut because it’s located in a region that has many tiny waterfalls or cascades from barn bluff, it’s just that there are no trails leading to them.

One could see all these red scorpia i think, lol…….Some plants were obviously still flowering!!!

One of the full rainbow we seen during this Tassie trip, lol. Today’s hike was pretty much traversing through gentle rise and falls, then towards open buttongrass moorlands.

Lake holmes in front!!! From there, there’s junction leading to lake will which is 3km return trip.

Heading to Lake Will. Luckily there’s already a slim boardwalk with chicken wires on it for most of the muddy part , otherwise the walk towards Lake Will would be harder. Alex told us that one can view Barn bluff from Lake will, one which we missed out due to bad weather. Surprisingly, lake Will is not a calm lake, there’s tide coming in and out, making it felt more like you are somewhere near sea, lol.

Lake Holmes again in full view, it has an interesting shape as a lake, right?

One of my favourite shot and something i tried to shoot while hiking. I really like the reflections on the hiking paths!!!!

View of a lake (maybe lake Agnew??) from far. The right pic above shows a typical buttongrass which really looks like a button, and new leaves just kept forming from the centre.

Approaching Lake Windermere with Mt.Oakleigh as backdrop!!! Mt Oakleigh is easily recognisable for it’s spires on one end. The weather kinda started to clear up as we approached Lake Windermere, in fact along the last few 2-3 km, as we descent, there’s some amazing view for a few seconds of glimpse, haha then it’s hiding behind the clouds again.

We stopped by Lake Windermere for a break, to take in the beauty of Lake Windermere, Alex said, he once swam in the lake during his summer visit, but he wouldn’t do it now even though there’s the intention, haha. Although the resting spot on Lake Windermere is a nice one, but camping is not allowed!!!

Finally, we arrived at the Windereme hut, once again very happy to find it clean and NO one!!!! haha. We can spread out, yeah!!! It’s almost the same size as the waterfall valley hut.

We spotted a swamp hen just outside the hut. And there’s possum’s dung, haha. Many times, you’ll see all these animal dungs, and you became familiarized with them. We saw heaps of possum and roo dungs everywhere, haha.

As the skies clear off during late evening, i went for a walk again and was SO EXCITED when i saw Barn bluff from the hut. I quickly asked the others along and we went as far as near Lake Windermere to have a better look at it. As expected, Barn bluff was blanketed with snow. Athough we didn’t manage to climb it, but getting a view of it was very satisfying too, haha.

Well, it’s another night again which i can’t remembered what we had for dinner already. But i spent most of the time chating with the Taiwanese girl, she was alone on this track, and she climbed cradle mountain too, all too brave but too dangerous too for a girl alone. Alex was amazed by her courage to do overland track on her own especially in winter, whereby he himself can count with one hand the girls he knew who did the overland track alone. Having said that, the Taiwanese girl has had some experience while doing her working holiday in the kiwi land, and she is indeed quite well prepared with the necessary gear as long as there’s no unfortunate events. Besides, the Taiwanese girl will pen down her everyday experiences in her diary which is pretty nice, haha. It’s really nice actually to meet someone else on the trip and able to chat.

Well, so much for that day, the next day is a 16.75km walk/hike, the longest along the overland track!!!!